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In the history of the Southern Baptist Convention - or denomination - during the late 19th century and through the 20th century, many of its male members were both Freemasons and dispensationalists. However, the denomination did not become totally dispensationalist until the sixties when the preacher of the First Baptist Church of Dallas,, W.A. Criswell, led the Convention to become totally dispensationalist. Criswell soon led the Southern Baptist denomination to get rid of its old doctrine of the priesthood of the believer because under dispensationalism, the preacher must rule the members.

The Southern Baptists are not the only Evangelicals to follow dispensationalism and to have many male members who are Freemasons. Some of the wives are members of the Masonic women's organization, the Eastern Star.

"Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Rick Warren, Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell and Robert Schuller were all high ranking Freemasons as are their present day successors like T.D. Jakes. We know the Catholic Church has been subverted but we need to be reminded that the same applies to Protestants, and especially Evangelicals."

Remember that Stephen Sizer wrote a history of dispensationalism which he called Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon,2009, Inter-Varsity Press.

Sizer has other writings on the topic of Christian Zionism, such as ."Christian Zionism: The New Heresy that Undermines Middle East Peace". Middle East Monitor. Retrieved 1 August 2013..

"At least one in four American Christians surveyed recently by Christianity Today magazine said that they believe it is their biblical responsibility to support the nation of Israel. This view is known as Christian Zionism. The Pew Research Center put the figure at 63 per cent among white evangelicals. Christian Zionism is pervasive within mainline American evangelical, charismatic and independent denominations including the Assemblies of God, Pentecostals and Southern Baptists, as well as many of the independent mega-churches. It is less prevalent within the historic denominations, which show a greater respect for the work of the United Nations, support for human rights, the rule of international law and empathy with the Palestinians."

"The origins of the movement can be traced to the early 19th century when a group of eccentric British Christian leaders began to lobby for Jewish restoration to Palestine as a necessary precondition for the return of Christ. The movement gained traction from the middle of the 19th century when Palestine became strategic to British, French and German colonial interests in the Middle East. Proto-Christian Zionism therefore preceded Jewish Zionism by more than 50 years. Some of Theodore Herzl’s strongest advocates were Christian clergy.
Christian Zionism as a modern theological and political movement embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism."

"Burgeoning Christian Zionist organizations such as the International Christian Embassy (ICEJ), Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) wield considerable influence on Capitol Hill, claiming a support base in excess of 50 million true believers. This means there are now at least ten times as many Christian Zionists as Jewish Zionists."

"Freemason John Nelson Darby is regarded as the Father of Dispensationalism and its prodigy, Christian Zionism. It was Freemason Cyrus. I. Scofield and D. L. Moody, who brought Darby’s sectarian theology into mainstream evangelical circles. R. C. Sproul stated that dispensationalism is now ‘...a theological system that, in all probability, is the majority report among current American evangelicals."

The article with the link shown above refers to this source for the claim that John Nelson Darby was not only a Freemason but also was an agent of the Rothschild-owned British East India Company, is this: John Coleman, How Conspirators Misuse Christian Fundamentalists (white paper) (Carson City, Nev.: World in Review, 2003), 4.

John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the
earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to them..."

"Them" are all physical Israel, or Old Covenant Israel. The church, for Darby exists mainly to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel."

John Darby and then C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer said that when the dispensation of grace is over then God will return to a dispensation of law and again raise up and work with the people of the physical bloodline.- of the Old Covenant.

John Darby says, that in dispensationalism the Church is a mere "Parenthesis" and Israel - Old Covenant Israel of the bloodline - is to reign in the future, but II Corinthians 3: 7-11, and Hebrews 10: 9 say the Old Covenant was done away with - and in the Old Testament Haggai 2: 9 says "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. saith the Lord of hosts..."

"JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1903, Vol. 5, page 503: "The technical language, symbolism, and rites of Masonry are full of Jewish ideas and terms."

In Morals and Dogma,Albert Pike admits that the source of Freemasonry's doctrines ultimately goes back to the Kabbalah, a Jewish book of occult knowledge:

"All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah and return to it; everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of all the Illuminati, Jacob Boeheme, Swedenborg, Saint Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah: all Masonic associations owe to it their Secrets and their Symbols." (Morals and Dogma, p 744)

"Therefore, the first understanding we want you to grasp is that Freemasonry is absolutely, completely, 100% devoted to the Solomon Temple, without which the entire structure and foundation of Freemasonry would die! Thus does Masonry stand in stark contrast to genuine, Biblical Christianity. In other words, Freemasonry is rooted at its deepest foundation to the First Covenant of the Old Testament, while Biblical Christianity is rooted to the Second Covenant of Jesus Christ as delineated in the New Testament."

"Mackey makes this fact quite clear also: "Masonry has derived its temple symbolism, as it has almost all its symbolic ideas, from the Hebrew type ..." [Ibid] Since the Old Testament was written originally in the Hebrew, and the New Testament in the Greek, Mackey is clearly stating that Freemasonry is rooted in the Old Testament!"

Yet the admission of top Masons that Freemasonry is under the influence of the Kaballah shows that Masonry is rooted in the Kaballah and in the Talmud.

The emphasis in Freemasonry on the rebuilding of Solomon's temple can be seen as a metaphor for building a world wide Masonic kingdom, both political and religious. Rebuilding the temple of Solomon might also be seen to be metaphoric for the rebuilding of the Mason himself along the lines of the Kaballah. But Freemasonry is run from the top, and most Masons in the local lodges do not know much about that top elite of Freemasonry.

The Masonic absorption in rebuilding Solomon's Temple as a metaphor for creating a Masonic kingdom, or New World Order, has some roots in the Kaballah.

A Kabbalist of the 1500s, Isaac Luria, writes about the
olam ha-tohu, or realm of confusion, and the olam ha-tikkun, the realm
of restoration, which is the Kaballistic version of the millennial kingdom,
the world empire to come ruled by the Kaballists.

In the history of the Southern Baptist Convention - or denomination - during the late 19th century and through the 20th century, many of its male members were both Freemasons and dispensationalists. However, the denomination did not become totally dispensationalist until the sixties when the preacher of the First Baptist Church of Dallas,, W.A. Criswell, led the Convention to become totally dispensationalist. Criswell soon led the Southern Baptist denomination to get rid of its old doctrine of the priesthood of the believer because under dispensationalism, the preacher must rule the members.

The Southern Baptists are not the only Evangelicals to follow dispensationalism and to have many male members who are Freemasons. Some of the wives are members of the Masonic women's organization, the Eastern Star.

"Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Rick Warren, Oral Roberts, Jerry Falwell and Robert Schuller were all high ranking Freemasons as are their present day successors like T.D. Jakes. We know the Catholic Church has been subverted but we need to be reminded that the same applies to Protestants, and especially Evangelicals."

Remember that Stephen Sizer wrote a history of dispensationalism which he called Christian Zionism: Road-map to Armageddon,2009, Inter-Varsity Press.

Sizer has other writings on the topic of Christian Zionism, such as ."Christian Zionism: The New Heresy that Undermines Middle East Peace". Middle East Monitor. Retrieved 1 August 2013..

"At least one in four American Christians surveyed recently by Christianity Today magazine said that they believe it is their biblical responsibility to support the nation of Israel. This view is known as Christian Zionism. The Pew Research Center put the figure at 63 per cent among white evangelicals. Christian Zionism is pervasive within mainline American evangelical, charismatic and independent denominations including the Assemblies of God, Pentecostals and Southern Baptists, as well as many of the independent mega-churches. It is less prevalent within the historic denominations, which show a greater respect for the work of the United Nations, support for human rights, the rule of international law and empathy with the Palestinians."

"The origins of the movement can be traced to the early 19th century when a group of eccentric British Christian leaders began to lobby for Jewish restoration to Palestine as a necessary precondition for the return of Christ. The movement gained traction from the middle of the 19th century when Palestine became strategic to British, French and German colonial interests in the Middle East. Proto-Christian Zionism therefore preceded Jewish Zionism by more than 50 years. Some of Theodore Herzl’s strongest advocates were Christian clergy.
Christian Zionism as a modern theological and political movement embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism."

"Burgeoning Christian Zionist organizations such as the International Christian Embassy (ICEJ), Christian Friends of Israel (CFI) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) wield considerable influence on Capitol Hill, claiming a support base in excess of 50 million true believers. This means there are now at least ten times as many Christian Zionists as Jewish Zionists."

"Freemason John Nelson Darby is regarded as the Father of Dispensationalism and its prodigy, Christian Zionism. It was Freemason Cyrus. I. Scofield and D. L. Moody, who brought Darby’s sectarian theology into mainstream evangelical circles. R. C. Sproul stated that dispensationalism is now ‘...a theological system that, in all probability, is the majority report among current American evangelicals."

The article with the link shown above refers to this source for the claim that John Nelson Darby was not only a Freemason but also was an agent of the Rothschild-owned British East India Company, is this: John Coleman, How Conspirators Misuse Christian Fundamentalists (white paper) (Carson City, Nev.: World in Review, 2003), 4.

John Darby said that the "Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the
earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to them..."

"Them" are all physical Israel, or Old Covenant Israel. The church, for Darby exists mainly to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel."

John Darby and then C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer said that when the dispensation of grace is over then God will return to a dispensation of law and again raise up and work with the people of the physical bloodline.- of the Old Covenant.

John Darby says, that in dispensationalism the Church is a mere "Parenthesis" and Israel - Old Covenant Israel of the bloodline - is to reign in the future, but II Corinthians 3: 7-11, and Hebrews 10: 9 say the Old Covenant was done away with - and in the Old Testament Haggai 2: 9 says "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. saith the Lord of hosts..."

"JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1903, Vol. 5, page 503: "The technical language, symbolism, and rites of Masonry are full of Jewish ideas and terms."

In Morals and Dogma, Pike admits that the source of Freemasonry's doctrines ultimately goes back to the Kabbalah, a Jewish book of occult knowledge:

"All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabalah and return to it; everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of all the Illuminati, Jacob Boeheme, Swedenborg, Saint Martin, and others, is borrowed from the Kabalah: all Masonic associations owe to it their Secrets and their Symbols." (Morals and Dogma, p 744)

"Therefore, the first understanding we want you to grasp is that Freemasonry is absolutely, completely, 100% devoted to the Solomon Temple, without which the entire structure and foundation of Freemasonry would die! Thus does Masonry stand in stark contrast to genuine, Biblical Christianity. In other words, Freemasonry is rooted at its deepest foundation to the First Covenant of the Old Testament, while Biblical Christianity is rooted to the Second Covenant of Jesus Christ as delineated in the New Testament."

"Mackey makes this fact quite clear also: "Masonry has derived its temple symbolism, as it has almost all its symbolic ideas, from the Hebrew type ..." [Ibid] Since the Old Testament was written originally in the Hebrew, and the New Testament in the Greek, Mackey is clearly stating that Freemasonry is rooted in the Old Testament!"

Yet the admission of top Masons that Freemasonry is under the influence of the Kaballah shows that Masonry is rooted in the Kaballah and in the Talmud.

The emphasis in Freemasonry on the rebuilding of Solomon's temple can be seen as a metaphor for building a world wide Masonic kingdom, both political and religious. Rebuilding the temple of Solomon might also be seen to be metaphoric for the rebuilding of the Mason himself along the lines of the Kaballah. But Freemasonry is run from the top, and most Masons in the local lodges do not know much about that top elite of Freemasonry.

The Masonic absorption in rebuilding Solomon's Temple as a metaphor for creating a Masonic kingdom, or New World Order, has some roots in the Kaballah.

A Kabbalist of the 1500s, Isaac Luria, writes about the
olam ha-tohu, or realm of confusion, and the olam ha-tikkun, the realm
of restoration, which is the Kaballistic version of the millennial kingdom,
the world empire to come ruled by the Kaballists.

Thanks for your homework, North. I wonder if there is more about Darby saying that the church would give definition and character to physical Israel; that sounded unusual and almost 180.

All Lives Matter --Marcus Sanford, youtube.com

Comment

That reply was quick - Darby postulated that in the future God would return to the dispensation of law and the church would be raptured off the earth. Maybe what he meant by the church giving fuller character and meaning to physical Israel was that the church under dispensationalism would be a kind of cheer leader for Israel of the physical bloodline, honoring and defining it fuller.

Comment

That reply was quick - Darby postulated that in the future God would return to the dispensation of law and the church would be raptured off the earth. Maybe what he meant by the church giving fuller character and meaning to physical Israel was that the church under dispensationalism would be a kind of cheer leader for Israel of the physical bloodline, honoring and defining it fuller.

Yes, I can see him doing that. Anything that would reverse the 'maturity' motion that was in the works and intended in Christ.

Comment

That reply was quick - Darby postulated that in the future God would return to the dispensation of law and the church would be raptured off the earth. Maybe what he meant by the church giving fuller character and meaning to physical Israel was that the church under dispensationalism would be a kind of cheer leader for Israel of the physical bloodline, honoring and defining it fuller.

IMO, and from what I picked up from Darby, is he considered the NT church to be a type to what he considered the ultimate anti-type: national Israel.

A reversed understanding of biblical revelation of the purpose of national Israel being a type of the invisible, spiritual church body of Jesus Christ.

"The immutable God never learned anything and never changed his mind. He knew everything from eternity."

" The difference between faith and saving faith are the propositions believed." Gordon H. Clark

"If a man be lost, God must not have the blame for it; but if a man be saved, God must have the glory of it." Charles Spurgeon

Comment

Matthew 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 25:27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 25:28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

I've read and heard enough from the Reformed side of the fence and its' various strains over the years; and have friends and aquiantances who are ever espousing said views' supposed underpinnings, to well know by now that said system's reasoning is severely skewed.

Said entire school of thought is based on conclusions allowed to be arrived at despite said school's ever endless "well, perhaps this...maybe that...we can't know for sure on this over here..." and so on.

The above posters have done just that once more; as have you.

I see no integrity in such a system.

It is unreliable as a so called standard for how to get at the intended sense of a thing.

No surprise then, all it has had to allegorize due to all it has "perhaps"d, and left unsolved for.

It is ever fascinating to me none of your kind ever see such an approach would not be allowed to go far in any other profession relying on some form of scientific (objective) inquiry.

Yours is, in short; one mother of an alt-fact.

Is it that you and yours are actually rendered that obtuse to an obvious by said system's reasoning after some time in its' darkness that you end up unable to see said huge gaping hole for what it is?

Or is it that your kind bring that kind of inability to see a thing for what is to said system's wise in its' own conceits table going in?

There is no room within truly scientific inquiry: including the study of Scripture; for the allowing of arriving at conclusions behind a trail of unsolved "well, maybe" this, "perhaps that."

2 Corinthians 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

Comment

If the focus were to be put on the fact that there were many Masons who were members of Southern Baptist congregations back before W.A. Criswell led the complete takeover of the Convention in the 1960's the dispensationists who love to argue might think this can be used to argue against the connection between Freemasonry and dispensationalism-Christian Zionism. Back before all Southern Baptist preachers taught dispensationalism and Christian Zionism, many Southern Baptists were Freemasons and their wives and daughters were members of the Eastern Star. Yet, even before the Convention was entirely dispensationalist, from Freemasonry, there was that emphasis upon things Jewish, especially the Talmud, and the Kabballah, which the Masonic leaders say was behind much of the doctrine and ritual of Freemasonry. There was certainly that stress upon Solomon's Temple and its rebuilding. The Freemasonic emphasis upon things of the Old Covenant, without Christ of the New Covenant, and the Jewish mysticism behind Freemasonry,would lead to the false doctrines in dispensationalism.

The influence of Freemasonry in its Jewish derived doctrines and rituals came first, not only for Southern Baptists but for other evangelical denominations in which there were many Freemasons. Dispensationalism became focused on things of the Old Covenant and not only on Jesus Christ in its interest in the Old Covenant and in the Jewish Talmud and Kabballah - both continuations of Old Covenant thought, partly from the Pharisees of Christ's time -

Comment

If the focus were to be put on the fact that there were many Masons who were members of Southern Baptist congregations back before W.A. Criswell led the complete takeover of the Convention in the 1960's the dispensationists who love to argue might think this can be used to argue against the connection between Freemasonry and dispensationalism-Christian Zionism. Back before all Southern Baptist preachers taught dispensationalism and Christian Zionism, many Southern Baptists were Freemasons and their wives and daughters were members of the Eastern Star. Yet, even before the Convention was entirely dispensationalist, from Freemasonry, there was that emphasis upon things Jewish, especially the Talmud, and the Kabballah, which the Masonic leaders say was behind much of the doctrine and ritual of Freemasonry. There was certainly that stress upon Solomon's Temple and its rebuilding. The Freemasonic emphasis upon things of the Old Covenant, without Christ of the New Covenant, and the Jewish mysticism behind Freemasonry,would lead to the false doctrines in dispensationalism.

The influence of Freemasonry in its Jewish derived doctrines and rituals came first, not only for Southern Baptists but for other evangelical denominations in which there were many Freemasons. Dispensationalism became focused on things of the Old Covenant and not only on Jesus Christ in its interest in the Old Covenant and in the Jewish Talmud and Kabballah - both continuations of Old Covenant thought, partly from the Pharisees of Christ's time -

Good post not that it will be accepted for what it is, which exposes much of Dispensationalism for what it is i.e. error.

Anyone that buys into Free Masonry and calls them self a Christian is deceiving them self.

Heb 4:2
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Comment

Southern Baptists, before the convention became totally dispensationalist in the sixties,, claimed to follow the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer, and taught that all believers are called to be priests.

When Jesus died on the Cross,the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom - Matthew 27: 51 - meaning that Christ opened the way to God to all people who believed in Christ. No curtain now separates the people from God. No longer do people need a priest to represent them before God. Everyone can go to God directly - Ephesians 2: 17-18. The Old Covenant priesthood was done away with. In a sense the Catholic Church brought it back/.

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." I Peter 2: 5

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" I Peter 2: 9

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." Exodus 19: 5-6

Peter in I Peter 2: 9 is almost exactly quoting from Exodus 19: 5-6. Exodus 19: 5-6 was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who made all who accept him and are born again in him become members of his kingdom of priests.

All believers are called to be priestly and holy to serve as examples to lead some to Christ and so they too become his priests.

And Peter in I Peter 5: 2-3 says " Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock."

Each believer is his own priest. Each believer can read the Scriptures for himself and ask God’s guidance in understanding it. He can look in scripture relevant to any other scripture to help him learn the meaning of that scripture he may not fully understand.

"But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." Isaiah 28: 13

Here is where one reason can be seen that answers the question of why dispensationalist preachers may oppose the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. Dispensationalism is a set of doctrines which starts from what should be called postulates that are not closely or clearly derived from a specific set of scriptures. In fact, it can be shown that the theology called dispensationalism contradicts or opposes a number of New Testament scriptures. If individuals within a congregation are allowed to be their own priests and interpret scripture by other scripture without the influence of dispensationalist doctrines being imposed on that interpretation, then they might come to accept doctrines not in agreement with dispensationalism.

According to Martin Luther, “Christ has made it possible for us . . . to be . . . his fellow priests.” So, Luther said all individuals should be able to read the Bible on their own. Everyone should be able to pray to God directly. No person could stand between a person and God.

To return to the doctrine that a preacher, acting as a priest, must interpret scripture for his congregation in a dogmatic way is to return to the Catholic type of rule by the clergy class. This is what Peter meant by saying that the preacher must act as an example and not act as a lord over God's inheritance. This does not mean that a preacher should not explain any error in interpretation of scripture by a member of his congregation.

But after the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3-12 the multitude in the churches are in false doctrines.

The remnant is seen in Revelation 7: 2-8, Revelation 14: 1-5 and in Revelation 12: 15-17. The remnant in Revelation 12: 17 has the testimony of Jesus Christ, with the implication being that the multitude does not - it does not have all the testimony of Christ because it tends to reject parts of it.

Comment

Anyone that buys into Free Masonry and calls themselves a Christian is deceiving themselves.

I agree with that and have for all my thirty-eight years of Christian life, and I'm a dispensationalist.

Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD[YHVH], that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Jer 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he[the Branch] shall be called, THE LORD[YHVH] OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.